Euro jumps, bonds slips after Yellen, Draghi speak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro jumped more than 1 percent and yields on benchmark U.S. government debt remained at unattractive rates on Friday after the world’s two leading central bankers declined to discuss monetary policy in keynote speeches.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s non-policy remarks at an annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming pushed U.S. Treasury debt yields lower and increased chances that the U.S. central bank will not raise interest rates in December as had been widely anticipated.

The euro, meanwhile, jumped more than 1 percent after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, speaking after Yellen, did not talk down the euro zone single currency’s strength as some investors had speculated.

Yellen told bankers that regulatory reforms enacted after the financial crisis a decade ago have strengthened the banking system without impeding economic growth.

Draghi said global trade and cooperation is under threat, a risk to productivity and ultimately growth in advanced economies.

Investor concerns about a looming deadline in late September to raise the U.S. debt ceiling were alleviated after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that after talks with congressional leaders from both parties, everyone is “on the same page.”

Oil prices rose as the dollar fell and as the U.S. petroleum industry braced for Hurricane Harvey, which could become the biggest storm to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade.

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